After proving to myself that I could get the hang of the basics of weaving, I decided to have another go, this time trying a few different techniques. Rather than just grabbing the first things that came to hand like last time, I hunted through my stash for a selection of neutral fibres of various… Continue reading Cream coloured weaving
Flowers for Mother's Day seems a bit predictable, but Power Poppy flowers are always beautiful and enjoyable to colour. And I always seem to leave starting work on cards until just before the deadline and rarely give myself time to come up with anything innovative, so I am super grateful to Marcella Hawley for sharing… Continue reading Hollyhocks and gem
How long do you keep working on a piece before admitting defeat? Before accepting that it's not going to work out how you want. Or do you never give up, do you think that's pretty much anything — as long as you haven't spilled a tin of paint over it — is redeemable? There are… Continue reading Hummingbird
It could go on a key ring, but really it's more of a fidget toy: I just like the sound the beads make when I play with them 🙂 It started off as a way to practise manipulating wire with jewellery pliers, putting beads on head pins and creating a loop to hang them from.… Continue reading Beaded key dangle
I love how this card turned out because, for once, it actually turned out just the way I wanted it to. The thing that took the longest was finding the right flower stamp to fit the design I had in mind and then flipping the design because my original sketch had the flower curving the… Continue reading Flowers in a crackle vase
A quick and easy art card to finish off the mini class. Wrap a piece of cardboard in aluminium foil, then draw lines and punch holes to create an effect like riveted metal panels. Add a coat of black acrylic paint, let it dry a little and then run most of it off, leaving shading… Continue reading Supply Savvy ATC day 5
Another technique that I've previously only tried with watercolour paints: using rock salt to add texture. And, like the cling film technique, it didn't turn out as well as it might have. At least this time I'm pretty sure I know what went wrong, I simply didn't use enough water, so the effect is more… Continue reading Supply Savvy ATC day 4
Another simple process that gives an interesting result. The background is essentially finger-painting: add blobs of paint to the card and smoosh it around until you are happy with how it looks. Add a few marks and splatters and, once it's dried, you're ready to add the background text. This is not a stamp, it… Continue reading Supply Savvy ATC day 3
The main technique for the second day of the Artful Academy Supply Savvy challenge was using cling film with acrylic paint to create a textured background. I've done this with watercolour paint before and it turned out really nicely, but for some reason it just didn't work that well here — I must give it… Continue reading Supply Savvy ATC day 2
Last November — yes, this is how far I am behind on writing up projects — Artful Academy (or Mixed Up Creative Academy as they were called then) ran a five-day teaser challenge for their Savvy Supply School class. I didn't go on to do the full class at the time, but I did complete… Continue reading Supply Savvy ATC day 1
It's a weird time, creatively and generally. I'm not short of things to do and my mojo, surprisingly, hasn't deserted me, but actually getting up and starting work on something? That's the tricky part. I have managed to do a few bits, but I have to almost catch myself unawares and just start doing something… Continue reading Hand-carved stamps
I'm sure that if the internet and YouTube didn't exist I would still be happily drawing away with a black fineliner or copying other people's art with cheap gouache paints. After all, that's the sort of thing I was doing in my early 20s. But we do have the internet and YouTube, and so I… Continue reading A first try at weaving
The combination of feeling utterly uninspired and also wanting to avoid a repeat of last year's slightly misjudged Valentine card design left me in a bit of a quandary as to what to do for this Valentine's day. Doing nothing was definitely not an option. I remembered that I had a couple of robot picture… Continue reading Valentine robot
How is it the end of February already? And how have I not managed to put together even one blog post this year? It's not even lack of things to post. I've a handful of bits and pieces from last year that got skipped in the effort to get all the Christmas cards written up.… Continue reading Blogging inertia
I was going to stop with the Christmas card making after finishing off the critters and snowflakes — I have plenty of spares from previous years so there was no danger of running out — but this post from Teela over at Every Tuesday caught my eye and I decided that one more quick card-making… Continue reading Snowflakes on watercolour
Crafty Rat 